Canon XL Infrared Night Vision

[Donald Cunningham]

I recently shot a class film project with my Sony PC9 with night shot. Here is the link if you are interested:

www.dc-digital.org/movies/crack.htm

I would like to use my Canon XL1 to shoot some Infrared Shots on another short film. Does anyone know what the IR sensitivity on the CCD on the Canon XL1, XL1s, or the XL2 is? (in nanometers) Also has anyone ever removed the IR cut filter from in front of the CCD to allow the Xl to see in the Infrared spectrum?

Thanks for any feedback.

[Robert Mann Z.]

i really enjoyed that...it had good pace

can you tell me how you did your audio work?
i imagine reveresed a lot of tracks for special effect...

keep up the good work, i don't think the xl series has an ir mode but the one camera that does come to mind is the dvc-30

http://www.adorama.com/PCAGDVC30CB.html

[Donald Cunningham]

Thanks it was my first attempt at a anything narrative fro my film class. Teh assignment was a chase scene I just made up a little story to go with it.

Well the human eye cannot see into the IR range of the EM spectrum but a CCD can detect quite well. All CCD cams even CCD still cams have a filter that blocks the IR from the CCD cuase it makes the colors weired if you let the IR Through but you can see in the dark and yes you can see through clothing in the day time with an IR cut filter over the lens...all cameras can do this but you have to remove the filter. I don't want to see into anyones clothing but I do want to shoot at night with the nightshot effect. The Filter is actually the green peice of glass over the CCD when you take your lens off.

My Sopny PC9 and all nightshot cams havea swithc that lifts the filter out to let in more IR light.

Has anyone doen this or knows of any schematics showing how to remove the CCD and replace it minus the filter...safely?

Thanks

[Donald Cunningham]

Sorry I didn't answer your question. I used final cut pro some audio was live on set..in fact you can hear me whispering directions to teh acotrs on what to do...they were working in near pitch black...only I had an IR monitor. Otehr than than that I did all audio in FCP in effects were final cut or reversing the film and the actors shot in reverse. The actual music was from a bunch of places...i have not gotten into actual music production yet that is next semester

[Rick Bravo]

I don't know if it would be worth the risk of treading where most would fear to go when it comes to non-factory modifications of a camera.

We needed true night vision from our XL-1s cameras, so...we spent a bunch of money on night scopes from ElectroPhysics.

http://www.rbravo.com/images/XL1S%20night.JPG

I'm curious. Why would you go to all that trouble when you obviously have access to a camera that is capable of giving you the desired effect?

RB

[Brandon Greenlee]

I'm sure hes wondering about using his XL1s because it would be a much higher quality camera to use.

Just about any camera that has a 'nightshot' function is a very consumer oriented camera. This isn't helped by the fact as its looked at as useless by most 'prosumers'. And it isn't useful in most cases, but where effects like this come in to play it would be nice to have the adjustability of an upper end cam like the Canon with the ability to do infrared video.o


On a side note: This video was incredible. I hope I can make something of this caliber sometime soon. I found it very suspensful and hope you continue the good work!

[Donald Cunningham]

I made a short using the night vision and then stripped the green color away to make it black and white. I would like to experiment with this effect for my next class project. I just thoughta three chip camera would have even better quality than teh 1 chip camera I ma using. In addition I have better lens and accesory options for my Cannon than I do for my tiny Sony 1 chip PC9.

[Charles Papert]

Nice setup Rick.

We were considering the Electrophysics setups for the feature I just wrapped, as there were several scenes involving a character using Nightvision googles that required us to see his POV. We had extensive talks with Electrophysics and their local vendor but the expense and learning curve was going to be a problem for this show. Ultimately, we ended up with a pretty ingenious solution (if I may say so:) we were working nights, so we placed these scenes at the end of the schedule each night. We'd get the true night shots including those of the actor with the goggles on and his POV's, then wait half an hour until dawn and shoot the night vision version with the early ambient light. The film lighting still read but the shadows became filled in. The post guys will be treating the footage to give it the green tint and flared highlights that one expects to see with nightvision. I think it will work out great.

[Charles Papert]

Nice setup Rick.

We were considering the Electrophysics setups for the feature I just wrapped, as there were several scenes involving a character using Nightvision googles that required us to see his POV. We had extensive talks with Electrophysics and their local vendor but the expense and learning curve was going to be a problem for this show.

Ultimately, we ended up with a pretty ingenious solution (if I may say so:) we were working nights, so we placed these scenes at the end of the schedule each night. We'd get the true night shots including those of the actor with the goggles on and his POV's, then wait half an hour until dawn and shoot the night vision version with the early ambient light. The film lighting still read but the shadows became filled in; we had about 20 minutes to get the shots we needed before the ambient became too prevalent.

The post guys will be treating the footage to give it the green tint and flared highlights that one expects to see with nightvision. I think it will work out great.

[Rick Bravo]

Charles,

You are absolutley correct about expense. You could buy approximately 2 1/2 cameras for the cost of one unit!

That was a good idea, shooting it in twilight. Let me know how it turns out.

Merry Christmas!

RB